While American bankers appear and act oblivious to crimes of their actions while we go into into nation-crushing amounts of debt to pay for their sins, their British counterparts seem to see the writing on the wall. And they're taking a different approach to respond to the crisis: They're apologizing.
Dennis Stevenson, the former chairman of HBOS, told the Treasury Select Committee investigating the crisis that he and the bank's former chief executive Andy Hornby were "profoundly sorry."
Fred Goodwin, previously chief executive of RBS and a man nicknamed "Fred the Shred" for his aggressive style, added: "I apologised in full and I'm happy to do so again." He said there was a "profound and unqualified apology for all of the distress that has been caused."
Stevenson said: "All of us have lost a great deal of money, including of course a great number of our colleagues, and we are very sorry for that.
Sure, apologies won't fix what's wrong, they can't change the past, but it sure is nice to see men of power own up to their mistakes. Humble apologies go a long way. If only the captains of the American banking industry had the courage to face their nation and do the same.
President Obama, it seems to me that we ought not to close down Guantanamo Bay so fast. Let's turn it into a destination resort for American bank executives who haven't demonstrated an ounce of personal shame from the destruction they have wrought.
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Geez, Greg, why do you hate freedo-- oh wait, we're done with that now, aren't we? Sorry. Old habits, etc.
I rate the chances of American banking execs apologizing somewhere just south of the odds of Bush and Cheney insisting they be tried on charges of treason. I'd put a dollar on that, but who has the excess funds for gambling any more? Besides banking execs, I mean.
Maybe it'll work for A-Rod, too.
There are definintely parallels between the British bankers apologizing / American bankers not, and the way A-Rod dealt with his drug use / Barry Bonds dealt with his.
Apologizing has to be the first step on the road to redemption.
You're right Greg, they gave an unreserved personal apology... then promptly qualified it by saying they "didn't feel personally culpable" for the failure of their institutions. (Oh, and some of them are still receiving over USD100k a month in return for their services last year).
For some of us on this side of the pond, it's one thing that these Bankers apologising won't fix things a damn. It's quite another that their apologies are as empty as the coffers they left behind.
Alas, while some UK bankers are apologising, others are insisting that they should still pay outrageous bonuses to their top execs at banks that have been bailed out by the state in order to avoid them going elsewhere (like the banks are hiring right now...) - even though the money for these bonuses would effectively come from tax-payers.
And the guys that are apologising are settled up and out of the game (having done very nicely out of it too), which makes it all the easier to say sorry.
I know I'm sounding like the typical cynical Brit, but I'd hazard that the general view of bankers on my
side of the pond hasn't been much improved by this apology - rather it still all seems too little too late.
And while an apology is a step in the right direction, an admission that the game has really changed and that they can't just say sorry, wait for the recovery and then go back to taking the risks that got us all in to this mess, has to be the next step...
And while the brits are bitching about our bankers... They actually apologised for the consequences of their actions - but not for the actual actions, which they seemed to think were perfectly reasonable and rational.
Love the idea about guantanamo though. We could resurrect the extraordinary rendition thing and ship our bankers over there too...
I can see why people want to put this on the gilded doorsteps of the wealthy bankers who saw their personal fortunes soar while becoming loan sharks, but is it so easy to dismiss the "American Dream" myopia of minimum wage earners who couldn't see past their first couple months of mortgage payments? I am happy to blame these bankers who preyed on the weak and stupid, but I'm also quite tired of letting the weak and stupid get a free ride. There should be some personal accountability on all sides of this morass.
And Martin is right--they apologized for the results, not the actions. That's the same as apologizing for being caught, but not for robbing the store.
That's the same as apologizing for being caught, but not for robbing the store.
Mind if I steal that? It pretty much perfectly captures why these apologies leave me so cold...
The simple psychology of the effect of accepting responsibility [for the cause or effect] and apologizing is profound. Compare the reaction Barry Bonds still gets to the outpouring of "we forgive you" cries after A-Rod apologized for getting caught. American bankers, businessmen/women in general and politicians should all take note.
I don't believe we'd be calling for the heads and jobs of these bankers if they hadn't consistently lied during the spiral downward and refused to accept responsibility. At the least, I believe we'd have given them a shot to turn things around. But they continue to refuse to take the high road, so why should we. Hurry up and send them to Gitmo before it closes.
In the US and in the UK, banks were allowed "to do what the hell they wanted without any oversight". So they went on a binge. ... and we ended up with a "banking system that lacks any social or economic responsibility."
But they think they did nothing wrong. They are indeed only offering faint apologies as it's the least they can do, as those that failed to regulate them now have to bail them out with public monies. They shed crocodile tears, and They still go home with millions in their pockets.
Mr. Volcker blamed the current crisis largely on compensation practices that “had gotten totally out of hand,” and on “obscure financial engineering.”
“The system is broken,” he said. Fixing it will take “a lot of money and a lot of losses in the banking system.”
And Mr Banker proffers up his "I'm sorry" ... now let Me get at some of that der free money coming our way to afix dem der problems i caused!
It's the difference between saying sorry and actual repentance. What these bankers seemed concerned with is how their lives have been affected by the actions not with actually thinking that what they did was wrong, that they feel grief over it, and even if it had not caused problems, they would still need to be apologising for it.
It's in the British psyche to apologize. It's hardwired into our prefrontal cortex - even before any fight or flight impulse kicks in, we'll still say "sorry" first. Try it next time your in Blighty - tread on someone's foot on the Tube and they'll probably say sorry to you.
At my local train station, they have an automated tannoy announcement system which apologizes, in the first person, for late-running/ non-existence of trains. Thus to compound the misery of a late/cancelled train you have the inane irony of a machine saying "I'm sorry".
Saying sorry is easy. Meaning it is harder.
Sorry, rant over.
Unfortunately, and bitterly, I find "humble apologies" from our dear banker friends the equivalent of "hiding all the funds under the mattress if the police come knocking." Once a greedy ass-hat, always a greedy ass-hat. Only difference is the "apology thing" strikes them as a good "strategic move" to keep the waters sane.
Is it the right thing to do? I believe so. Are their decisions based on "doing the right thing"? N-n-nope.
This is what you get when you don't regulate, and vote for Bush... twice.